Player Aides by Justen Bennett

We’ve got another exciting fan submission to share today, this one intended for players! I think there’s a lot of organizational tools out there for GMs so I’m happy to see some for players as well. Frankly, the GMs are probably happy too since it means players will forget the details of the story less often!

Justen initially got into Star Trek when his dad would have TNG on at home during its original run, but it was Voyager and Captain Janeway and her crew that really pulled him into the franchise. He’s been playing TTRPGs for 10 years, as of 2024, with a mix of 13th Age, Numenera, D&D 5e, Pathfinder Second Edition, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Brindlewood Bay, and other systems… as if that wasn’t enough of a journey!

He’s only GMed a couple D&D 5e one-shots and shorter, pre-written campaigns in Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal and has just started GMing for Star Trek Adventures. This latest foray is his first self-written campaign in a complex system, probably what prompted these player aides! He’s excited about exploring a universe and franchise he loves; creating new adventures for his players to enjoy; and exploring a complex d20 system that deals with challenges and conflicts in ways that aren’t combat-focused. It was through all his preparation for this big new adventure that he created these player resources to help meet some of his own needs and he hopes others find them useful, too.

There are four different aides that Justen is offering up today and he has some tips for each. While they are written for Star Trek Adventures, the Personal Log in particular is a great resource for Captain’s Log as well.

Thanks to Reddit user LeftLiner for feedback on the starship damage sheet. It’s new and improved!

Extended Tasks and Timed Challenges

These are both meant for players to have a visual way to track their progress on extended tasks and timed challenges. When I printed my copies out, I laminated them so they can be reused. I use a combination of dry-erase markers and tokens to note information about the tasks and track progress. When I’m GMing, I also tend to have the players manage these, rather than me, as I find it helps keep them more engaged and have more ownership of the tasks, and I get to focus on adding flavour to describing their progress and finding fun ways to use Threat rather than bookkeeping.

Starship Damage

This is just a straightforward, one-page summary of the different effects of damage on systems in battle. I laminated my copy of this, too, as I imagine it could also be helpful for players to use dry-erase markers or tokens to note which systems are at which levels of damage while in battle.

Personal Log

This resource is based on the character development rules from the Klingon Empire Core Rulebook. It’s meant for players to have a way to track their development across multiple adventures. There’s space for players to:

• Note the name of the adventure and the date(s) it took place
• Make a brief note about their character’s involvement/role in the adventure
• List each of the values they used and note:
  • + if they used that value positively
  • – if they used that value negatively
  • ! if they challenged that value
  • ✓ when they’ve called back to that specific use of their value in a later adventure
• Write a new value if they’ve challenged one of their values
• Note a previous adventure they’ve called back to as a “milestone adventure”
• Note when an adventure has been used as a “milestone adventure” and which number in that particular character arc it is